****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
If you are a skinny minnie, you can probably get by with a variety of shoes. If you are a big guy like me though, you wear one pair of shoes a lot, and your shoes take a beating, these are the ones for you without recommendation to any others.First of all, there is one single flaw to these: the laces. I don't know why but the laces they have chosen to put on these shoes from V1 to now V4, tend to break near where they wrap back to tie them and sometimes rather quickly. They have a hard plastic insert in the leather as extra support there and it seems to end up cutting the outer cord with at least some of the laces sometimes. That is about my only complaint on these shoes.Now, the good. The overall leather of the shoe just doesn't break down nor the fabric parts of it. In fact, the soles wear out before the rest of the shoe does. The soles are adhered to the rest of the shoe very well and never come off. I have no issues with the toes or sides opening up (and I use a double-wide shoe). They are very comfortable, light and provide good support.I would say under heavy daily use of these with a big dude - you will go through a pair in about 6-8 months. Light use on a big guy you will probably get 10-16 months out of these. A skinny guy with light use daily could easily get 18-24 months out of these I think.I have tried other brands and about the only other two that come kind of close in quality are Rockport and Nike. Rockports have pretty good quality all around but they don't make models that are great for a larger person. The soles tend to be kind of thick and break down a bit allowing them to slant. Nike's support just isn't good enough for a big man. I have also experienced breakouts frequently with their toes or sides and the soles sometimes come loose. I wont say much more about Sketchers other than they are a cheap shoe with absolutely no support.THIS is the only brand you will need for work and causal wear, provided you don't need steel/composite toes (although I believe they make a verson with that as well). If you haven't tried these shoes before and are looking for something that is more comfortable and durable, these are your ticket. Get them!
